


Goodnight, Lion

by Nakwrites



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Gen, Melancholy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 11:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4219998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nakwrites/pseuds/Nakwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven and Lion get ready for bed!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodnight, Lion

**Author's Note:**

> Another oldish fic, this time SU! This was written over a year ago (before we saw Rose in Lion 3, I think), but I think it still stands up pretty well.
> 
> Originally posted here: http://whethervane.tumblr.com/post/74849673316/goodnight-lion

Steven had always loved his loft bedroom in the Gems’ beach house. For one thing, the window didn’t quite face east, so when the sun rose in the morning there would be just enough light to wake him up, but not enough to blind him before he was even awake. And for another, he had a _huge_ bed, and even if the futon wasn’t so fluffy there was always enough room for him to roll around and sprawl on it.

“Looks like my huge bed’s comin’ in handy, huh?” Steven laughed quietly as he climbed up the stairs, absently toweling his still-damp hair. (After the events of the day Steven had no intention of going to bed with an ounce of sand in his underwear, and knowing how to best rinse off sand in the shower came easily to somebody who’d lived in a coastal town all his life.) On the bed, easily taking up all but a Steven-sized space in the outwards corner was the Lion, lounging easily. It blinked slowly, as if in response. Steven giggled.

“Haha, yeah. I bet that feels a lot better than sleeping on sand! …Did you sleep on sand when you were in the desert?” Steven carefully laid out his towel on the edge of the loft to dry and straightened his pajamas as he spoke, but when the boy glanced over his shoulder at the lion he only got another blink in reply. “Hmm. Well, if you weren’t sleeping on sand, you were probably like… in a cave or something. Oh, man, sleeping in a cave must be _terrible!_ I bet you’ll like it better on a bed. What do you think?”

Finally, the lion seemed to have something to say: it opened its mouth in a wide yawn and stretched, rolling over slightly so that its stomach was now visible, and seemingly making some more room for Steven on the bed.

“Oh! Oh, okay. I guess you just wanna sleep. That’s cool,” Steven replied, his voice quieter now that the lion had ‘spoken.’ The boy finally padded over to the bed and hopped right on, nestling into the space the lion had left for him until he realized that the lion was on top of his blanket. But that wasn’t a problem; the lion’s fur was soft enough, and as it had shown Steven its belly, the young Gem took it on faith that he was allowed to snuggle up against it for warmth, and Steven took to the opportunity with gusto.

As he pressed his face into the lion’s fur, though, he realized he could smell its scent. Which wasn’t really a big deal; it wasn’t a bad smell, like a ocean-water-wetted dog or anything. It was more comforting than anything. That was where the puzzlement lay; before, when Steven had pressed his face into the lion’s mane, he’d smelled the scent, and had momentarily been confused – even if it had quickly been replaced by his excitement over the lion itself.

But now, finally out of the desert heat and the excitement of the day, Steven could put his brain to the task of trying to figure out what exactly Lion smelled like.

“…You smell like my mom,” Steven mumbled after a moment. Immediately afterwards he wasn’t sure why he’d said that; he hadn’t known his mother. Or if he had, he hadn’t known her well enough to remember much about her. But even as he thought about it, he realized somehow that it was true, even though it wasn’t a clear answer; the lion smelled the same way he thought his mother would smell. A gentle but incredibly strong scent, of warm skin and soft fur and spun sugar and… something flowery….

_Roses_ , Steven finally thought.

He was not sure where the realization came from, but he trusted it all the same.

“Hey, Lion. Lion!” Steven whispered, turning his face upward to look at the lion’s face where it lay on his pillow (now Lion’s pillow, he guessed). Hearing his voice, the animal perked up and looked at him. “Lion, you smell like roses. And my mom. How weird is that?”

The lion gazed back at Steven with its quiet eyes, casting a faint white glow on the boy’s face. It blinked one more time. And then, with another wide yawn, it shifted around him, and Steven found himself nestled into the lion’s chest-mane, with one of its thick, strong forelimbs draped gently over him.

“Oh! …Thank you,” Steven said quietly after spitting some of the light pink fur out of his mouth. Then he pressed his face into the lion’s mane further, face enveloped by soft fur and rosy scent, and there he felt one last thing: a low, calm, steady heartbeat, like the gentlest of drums.

Steven shifted one last time to get onto his back, face still half-pressed into the lion’s mane so that he could still breathe while also listening to the soothing beat. Looking up once more, the boy saw the lion’s head back on the pillow, eyes closed, and with what Steven would have sworn was a contented smile. Seeing this as well, Steven mimicked his new friend.

“Goodnight, Lion,” he murmured, and he was soon lulled to sleep by the heartbeat of the lion and the smell of his mother.


End file.
